124 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



considerable outlay in the beginning ; and this outlay might 

 require the joint efforts of several persons. If farmers raise 

 stock of any kind, they ought to raise that ivhich is good. In 

 this particular we are already too negligent and altogether 

 behind some other sections of the country. To be sure, where 

 stock ■ raising is the leading business, more attention will be 

 given to breeds and specimens. In the small town of Middle- 

 field, containing less than seven hundred inhabitants, the 

 farmers paid a thousand dollars in a single year for a single 

 animal, each from the Devon and Shorthorn Durham breeds of 

 cattle. But, I am sorry to add that that same year, the good 

 people of that town, raised by taxation only five hundred dollars 

 for the education of their children, and", under the district 

 system, divided it among fourteen schools and twenty-eight 

 teachers. 



But they are already taking more interest in schools, and 

 realizing great profit from the improved cattle. A gentleman 

 in that town wrote me about three years since that he had just 

 killed a cow of the Shorthorn Durham breed, that weighed 

 nine hundred pounds, and had one hundred pounds of tallow. 

 I am well convinced that farmers of Massachusetts, waste much 

 time and lose large amounts of money by neglecting to raise 

 good stock. 



I hope, therefore, that sheep husbandry will not be attempted 

 unless those who engage in it are prepared to introduce valuable 

 animals, at such cost as may be necessary. 



Another difficulty exists in the want of good fences. There 

 is, however, no serious trouble in protecting the heavy varieties 

 of sheep, whether Oxfordshire Downs, or Leicesters. A four- 

 rail fence properly set, or a board fence, or a wall with a pole 

 for a rider, is quite sufficient. 



Dogs are the great enemy of successful sheep husbandry in 

 New England, and as long as they are allowed to wander at 

 large, it can never become a profitable and comfortable business. 



Aside from and beyond the direct and immediate profit of 

 sheep husbandry, the improvement of our worn-out acres 

 devoted to pasturage, is a consideration not to be overlooked. 

 It is very well known that sheep improve pastures, especially if 

 they are so kept that they are driven to close feeding. They 

 destroy all the common weeds, briars, and bushes. 



